what we are reading – EightandHalf
And if the background music and the song in the trailer is any indication of the film to come, well, its time for #BOJam (Inspired by #MeterJam). Again! Southern Superstar Surya makes his bolly debut with this one. Plus, it has the bolly superstar (atleast he thinks he is) Vivek Oberoi alongwith Priyamani, Shatrughan Sinha, Abhimanyu Singh and Radhika Apte.
Whats more, its in two parts. So, two movies, back to back, one after another in just few weeks. Get ready. Seriously!
So, the big question is will Superstar Surya save Ramu’s almost dead career or will Ramu manage to kill Surya in his bollywood debut! Though the hindi promo of the film is not out yet but this one surely looks like Satya-meets-Sarkar-meets-Sarkar Raaj! Ramu doesnt even give a new frame to stare at, forget anything else. Anyway, we will continue the bitchfest later on, have a look.
It stars Vivek Oberoi, Surya Sivakumar, Priyamani, Radhika Apte, Shatrughan Sinha , Kota Srinivas Rao and Tanikella Bharani.
Look what a Prince can do! He kicked us out of our cocoon! Many of you wrote to us wondering if we are dead or lost and what happened to the blog! No post since last two weeks! Thanks so much for the concern. Actually we got into Eir Bit Phatte mood. Eir was out for some family function and then went into the wild. Bir got a film to write. Yay! And Phatte quit her job and is in no mood to do anything. Blame it on mood swings! Ok, thats enough of our story. Lets go back to the Prince.
No, the Kingdom of Dreams doesnt belong to Salman Khan. Or the Bachchans who would love to kick Vivek Oberoi at any given time. Its a big multi-crore musical project and he was signed to play the lead. Click here to read more about the project.
But the actor known more for his Princegiri than his acting genes was giving a hard time to Wizcraft, organiser of the show. Complete nightmares! Finally they decided enough is enough and kicked him out of the show.
Also, the actor recently tweeted that his mentor Ram Gopal Varma saw his film Prince and congratulated him for his acting. But when we called up our spy at RGV Talkies, it seems he was LOL discussing the film, rolling his popped-out eyeballs and shaking his head violently!
Though the film got good opening but to recover its budget of Rs 40cr seems like an impossible task. And if you wondering how can the budget of a Vivek Oberoi film be Rs 40crore, well, only because they shot and reshot and shot&reshotandshot&reshotandshot more! The action director decided that since nobody want to see Vivek Oberoi (thats true!) lets focus on the stunning stunts! So, everything went overbudget! Also, if a Riteish Deshmukh film (Read Jaane Kahan Kahan Se Aaya Hai) can cost Rs 20crore, then Vivek surely deserves its double.
Here it is. The multi-starrer of the year. Produced by UTV, Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti stars Ajay Devgan, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Vivek Oberoi, Nana Patekar and Manoj Bajpai. Check it out! WTF! why so much voiceover!!!!???? Guess few things will never change!
UPDATE – As soon as the promo was out today, Prakash Jha was furious. It seems he wasnt aware of it. The director doesnt know that his film’s first theatrical trailer is already out. Surprise! What’s more, it was out on UTV’s official channel on youtube. Talking about the head not knowing where the arm is! Few phone calls here and there and the promo was pulled out. But the good word had spread by then. And so here it is. We also had to replace the video. Jhaji, ek trailer ke liye, pehle VVC aur ab itni raajneeti ?
2009 – The Master of Feel Bad started the year delivering his career’s first hit and the Master of Feel Good Cinema ended the year with a recording breaking monster hit! Aha, not that bad if we count only the boundaries. After the musical notes of the year, we sat down to discuss the filmy notes of the year. Here it is – the good, the bad and the fuglies!
1. Best Credit Roll – If ever a credit roll said something so simply and superbly, this is it. Luck By Chance. Also great debut by Zoya Akhtar.
2. Anurag Kashyap turned musical and how! More than a dozen songs and we discovered Amit Trivedi.
3. Anurag Kashyap – 2009 belongs to only one director. Dev D, Gulaal and even Paanch finally got a release, you know where. Whats more, he finished shooting his next film That Girl In Yellow Boots in just 13 days. Aur bolo ?
PS : The same Anurag Kashyap wrote the dialogues for Kurbaan ! Strange bedfellows remained strange.
4. Nobody, we repeat nobody, can save Harman/Hurrman/Harmann/Harrman/Whatever it is Baweja.
5. Wooden Film of the Year – New York. Three good looking woods with zero expression.
6. Ranbir Kapoor – Dude of the year! He is not only working with best directors of bollywood but delivering his best too. Cool & confused, fool & romantic, middle class & lost – he did it all.
7.Imran Luck Khan – The poster boy of 2008 is light years behind Ranbir. He only talks cool and acts still uncool. Competition, whats that ?
8. Imtiaz Ali has only one story to tell. The journey of cool and confused lovers on the verge of marriage. First time, they were about to mary. Second time, they were close to marriage. This time, they finally married and then solved their problem. More here and here.
9. Samir Karnik got money to make one more movie. Who ? Where ? Why ? How ?
10. Rani Mukherjee’s career is over. Hadippa!
11. Multiplex cinema & hits are not everything. Its a big myth. Ask the makers of Wanted. Or is it only Salman Khan ?
12. And if its Salman Khan, why Main Aur Mrs Khanna packed up in just two days ? As they say, nobody knows anything. And what was UTV smoking ?
13. Overrated Gimmicky shit of the year – Paa. More ramblings here.
14. R Balki should stick to making tv commercials. One idea and thats it. He also told the same story again. Smart & dying child bring lovers back together. Age gap somewhere. Check.
15. Akshay Kumar’s bubble busted and how!. He failed everywhere. Chandni Chowk, China, Hollywood, under water, inside or outside Tasveer.
16. The Invisible Director – Who is Anurag Singh ? Does anyone knows him ? The man who put the last nail in the coffin of Rani’s acting career. Hadippa!
17. Sanjay Gupta and gang (read Suparn) are still copying. Even the promos! Now the Unknown ones! More here.
18. Suresh Nair – the only writer to have two big films releases on the same friday. Aladin & London Dreams and both flopped.
19. Underrated Film – Sooni Tarporevala’s delightful Little Zizou, where all the possible parsis united to turn bollywood into pollywood! ( Missed Barah Aana, Mohandas)
20. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – Sunil Shetty got an award for acting in Anant Mahadevan’s Red Alert – the War Within. Believe it, nobody has seen the film yet.
21. Most Subtle Expression of the year – In Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6, a man lands up with a mirror to show your andar ka kala bandar! Beat this!
22. Nagesh Kuknoor – Dont give him big budgests and big stars. He will go cuckoo-noor!
23. Vishal Bhardwaj delivered again. Five films in a row. And showed us Amole Gupte – the actor. More here.
24. Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani tried too hard to be Andaz Apna Apna. Insanity happens! You cant plan and design it.
25. ENG Filmmaker -Madhur Bhandarkar continued his expose and it finally flopped.
26. Smirk & Smug of the Year – Vivek Oberoi in Kurbaan. It was the ROFLOL film of the year where terrorism was wrapped in chiffon saree.
27. RajKumar Hirani lied to all of us and made the same film again. As a friend said, its Munnabhai B Tech. More here.
28. Couple Of The Year – Jaideep Sahni & Shimit Amin who delivered Rocket Singh – Sales Man of the Year! More here.
29. The only U-25 who proved us wrong – Ayan Mukherjee. Wake up Sid. Confident debut. More here.
30. Only 12 scenes, not 12 roles – Ask Priyanka Chopra. Easily the best performance of the year. Length doesnt matter, performanace counts. Vishal did it. Gowariker failed.
Bravery Awards – Aftab Shivdasani turned writer and producer with Aao Wish Karein.
Someone directed a film titled Jai-Veeru!
Abhijeet Sawant turned actor.
LOL Titles Of The Year – They said it all. No explanations required.
Kal Kisne Dekha
Do Knot Disturb
Fruit & Nuts
London Nightmares
Blue-s
Aa Dekhein Zara
Dhoondte Rah Jaoge
Ek Se Bure Do
(Tough) Luck
Shorkut – The Con Is On
PS. ENG – Electronic New Gathering.
Coming up next – what to expect in 2010!
The big release of this friday is Kurbaan. Produced by Karan Johar, directed by Rensil D’ Silva and starring Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi. And here is the score card…
Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – The film has ambition but it is too flawed and simplistic to explore issues like religion, violence and the politics of terrorism with any conviction or gravitas – 2.5/5
Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, KURBAAN is the most powerful film to come out of the Hindi film industry in 2009, so far. The film has a captivating plot, gripping screenplay, super performances and a climax that shakes you up completely. Watching this movie should be on top of your agenda this week – 4/5
Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – Stripped to its bone, Rensil D’silva’s Kurbaan is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that seldom loses its grip on your attention. Credible performances from its leads, and a nail-biting screenplay make up for the plot holes that threaten to eat into this otherwise engaging film – 3/5
Khalid Mohamed (PFC) – In effect, then, Kurbaan is the sort of film that doesn’t have a clue about the complex subject it is dealing with. It set my teeth on edge. And ha ha , not only because it is revealed at the end that the real name of Saif Ali Khan’s terrorist happens to be Khalid. Thanks Karan, Rensil..I’d just like to see how you guys would respond if your names were used for heinous criminals on screen. Or even in graffiti. Try it – 1.5/5
Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – It’s not as if the director has refused to make concessions to the starry status of his lead couple, with Kareena displaying a daringly naked back, and Saif showcasing a bare brawny torso, the bloody rivulets just so. Or that D’Silva doesn’t fall into the self-indulgent trap all debutants do, to keep it too long: the second half drags, and the last half-hour telegraphs its punches. But you overlook these because, at its core, ‘Kurbaan’ has power and resonance – 3/5
Nikhat Kazmi(TOI) – Kurbaan sure does strike a chord and sets you thinking on stuff that needs to be sorted out before the new world order – a more humanitarian, less violent – sets in. Don’t miss it – 3.5/5 ( BTW, this review deserves a separte post. Why and how ? Coming soon)
Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror) – Despite a difficult subject that deals with terrorism and Islam, the director gets the tone and pitch of the film just right, a tricky art to pull off in a purely commercial space. While the recent New York was more flamboyant in its approach, Kurbaan is textured and well-measured – 3/5
Mayank Shekhar (HT) – What you may brave through then is a flick neither real or serious enough to be a meditation on global terror, nor sweetly suspended and adequately brain-dead to be Die Hard. It’s hard to be both. The hardship shows.
Chandrima Pal (Rediff) – Go watch Kurbaan, explore it, find your own points to agree, disagree, endorse, enjoy, debate and be angry about. Either way, you definitely cannot walk out without the film leaving an impression on you. And a strong one at that – 3.5/5
Gaurav Malani (ET) – Kurbaan, noticeably, is set on the same plot of New York – the pun involves both the city and the cinema. And while in any other case this could have been a setback for the ulterior release, Karan Johar’s film, on the contrary, scores for being a more convincing and compelling version of the Yash Raj production that released few months back – 3/5
Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – Welcome to the world of Islamic terror. Where blood flows artistically, a rich red, slowly and steadily; where love is the perfect antidote; where FBI agents are heroes; where sleeper cells operate out of racially stereotyped neighbourhoods amidst kebabs and biryani; and where the Koran is discussed over coffee and chai – 2/5
Priya Ramani (Livemint) – Before this movie I believed that New York was to Karan Johar what Switzerland was to Yash Chopra. Why would he make such an offensive film about his favourite city? Bas karo yeh meaningful cinema. Please give us a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai again.
Aniruddha Guha (DNA) – You are not quite sure after watching Kurbaan what exactly the motive behind making the film is. Was it designed to be a thriller? Then, in the almost 2hrs and 40minutes of its running time, it’s too long and dips at various points to be able to thrill you enough. Was it supposed to be a love story? Then it fails on that count because the ‘lovers’ in the film come across as shallow. Was the film supposed to be a comment on global terrorism? Then it’s a haphazard one, raising questions (old ones at that) and not bothering to give any answers – 2/5
After Kaminey, this one got to be the title song of the year…Kurbaaan hua! We have it in non-stop loop! What powerful lines….Poori huyee har arzoo, har dastaan meri…..yeh tum shuru huye jahan…main khatam hua…kurbaan hua! And Vishal Dadlani does a terrific job with this song after he bored us to death with his Aladin nursery rhymes!
The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi and is directed by Rensil D’Silva. The promotional music video of the film is out. Have a look.
The first song promo of Kurbaan is out. The song is shukran allah. Its directed by Rensil D’Silva, produced by Karan Johar and stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi and Dia Mirza. Check it out!
For synopsis/story of the film click here.
The theatrical trailer of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi starrer Kurbaan is out. The film is directed by Rensil D’Silva and produced by Karan Johar.
Click on the play button. Am already head banging to the beats of kurbaan hua (the song starts at 1:45). Have a feel it will rock the charts!
For the poster and synopsis of the film click here.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
